OREANDA-NEWS. June 23, 2008. In 2030 there will be 60% more nuclear reactors in the world than there are today, the deputy director general of the International

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yuri Sokolov said in Korea.

Today, there are 440 nuclear reactors worldwide. 30 countries have nuclear reactors: the United States has 103 reactors, France — 59, Japan — 55, Russia — 31. 30 more reactors are under construction – mostly in developing countries.

Nuclear reactors produce 16% of the total electricity in the world. In France this index is as high as 78%, in China — just 2%. Now that the energy demand is quickly growing more and more countries, especially in Asia, are actively searching for new sources of energy and are considering the possibility of building nuclear reactors.

Sokolov said that not all countries might opt for nuclear energy, but the countries who were just beginning to develop nuclear energy had to work hard to ensure the safety of their nuclear reactors and to efficiently protect their nuclear materials.